Today

Almost nothing written in English on Kim Myeong-sun [김명순] (1896–1951), also known by her penname, Tansil [탄실]. After a rough life, bearing the strong social stigma of having 'a bad blood' [나쁜 피] due to her mother's work as kisaeng courtisan, Kim Myeong became the first great modern novelist of Korea, speaking five languages (English, French, German, Japanese and Korean), and also translating Edgar Allan Poe's works to her natal language. Her lifelong scars, which had already driven her to attempt suicide at a pond while studying in Japan, would nevertheless take her sanity during the last half of her life. But how willfull, and how strong was she at the moment of writing this:

Everybody can know his own destiny. There is a fate sealed deep within each one. A fateful chain which can never be stopped. But the greatest ones are the miserable ones. Because, they make a weak person to revolt.